Sorry I'm just now getting the time to read and process all this wonderfull info. Thanks again Craig this info will prove to be very usefull when talking to these guys that are swearing by their panasonics 10 amps. Lol. I've been using vtc5's in mine and getting 2 full days out of them before the Zener shuts it down. Again thanks for helping a noob understand better.

Welcome.

The 10A Panasonics are kind of a middle of the road battery, better electrical performance with a small trade-off in capacity compared to a standard battery. They do fill a niche for those that don't need a particularly high power output and want more capacity while improving electrical performance compared to a standard battery.

The one thing I don't like about the latest 10A Panasonics is that as far as I can tell, they use the same proprietary NNP technology as the rest of the cells in the NCR series. In terms of chemical volatility (safety), this technology rates about the same as a standard cobalt based Li-Ion cell. I've seen claims the NCR18650PD uses the safer PSS technology Panasonic offers, but I haven't been able to find that out for sure one way or the other. At this point, I tend to think the PDs and PFs use the NNP technology which is not as safe as the manganese based cells like the Sony VTC5 and LG HE2.

There is some good info there, but you really have to fire up the brain filter to browse the posts there. I used to visit that forum, but got tired of people battling what I posted there with bad info. Not to be arrogant and imply that I never post anything incorrect, It happens sometimes, but I really try to make sure I post information that is accurate.

I have a question mostly For Mamu but anyone can answer this one. I saw a reference to the Dena how to. Is this a video, and if so where can I find it. I have looked everywhere I know to find videos on how to do these mods and I have only found a few on youtube. I am a visual learner. If I can watch it be done it is a big help for me. Can anyone give me some direction on where to go to see these videos.

Hmm, that sounds like double talk to me. Voltage is voltage when it comes to safe discharge levels. It doesn't matter if the battery has a 30A drain limit or a 5A drain limit. If they're using some kind of sketchy method in detecting when the battery has been discharged then it's their bad engineering. With a proper detection circuit it should not be necessary to require a particular brand of battery with a particular drain limit to guarantee a safe discharge level.

In any case, it's not a concern. The only batteries that are unsafe to discharge as high as 3V are the LiPo flat cells and that mod uses 18650s. All 18650s have a minimum safe discharge voltage at most 2.7V. The Panasonics are even lower at 2.5 Volts.

Yeah I thought it was especially shady considering the only batteries that site sells is the ones that are "safe" for that mod. Coincidentally there right next to the checkout with a big ole impossible to miss picture of them. Just an attempt to upsale ppl visiting the site for that mod, which is always sold out. Thanks for the help guys, I grabbed a fresh set of vtc5's for my okr-t10 mod. Once I get it I'll try to get some pics of the chip for you all to look out and maybe then you can tell if it has those features I was asking about. rev polarity, low voltage cutoff ect. Thanks

I have a question mostly For Mamu but anyone can answer this one. I saw a reference to the Dena how to. Is this a video, and if so where can I find it. I have looked everywhere I know to find videos on how to do these mods and I have only found a few on youtube. I am a visual learner. If I can watch it be done it is a big help for me. Can anyone give me some direction on where to go to see these videos.

ThanksMick

Dena is a written how-to for the OKR-T6 with lots of pics and detailed instructions.

Written Is good. I am very or should I say VERY interested in building a Raptor. This may not be the place for the question but I wouldn't know where else to pose it. Where can I get a schematic and written information for one of those. I have built several boost regulated Mods using the info on here for the .44> have all the parts for a few OKR 10's but I really want to try a raptor so any information would be great.

Where can I get the written stuff for the Dena you didn't put that in your response. please tell me where to go to get the info.

Hey all just want to say this community is much nicer than others out there on other social media sites. You guys are always nice and courteous. Waiting for the last of my parts to come in and you guys have definitely been a source of happy for new modders. So all I think I need left is my okr board to arrive and then my question is do I absolutely need capacitors or can I skip them being my soldering is pretty bad. What do you guys think about the automotive stuff that is like cold soldering? Just nervous about messing up a nice board? Hints suggestions any help is awesomely appreciated.

Hey all just want to say this community is much nicer than others out there on other social media sites. You guys are always nice and courteous. Waiting for the last of my parts to come in and you guys have definitely been a source of happy for new modders. So all I think I need left is my okr board to arrive and then my question is do I absolutely need capacitors or can I skip them being my soldering is pretty bad. What do you guys think about the automotive stuff that is like cold soldering? Just nervous about messing up a nice board? Hints suggestions any help is awesomely appreciated.

Welcome to the forum Ctarno! There is a very good tutorial on soldering under the modding tab, it is called simplified electronics easy tutorials. Post #16.As far as the capacitors go, yes they are necessary. I do not have any experience with the cold soldering technique so I will not comment on that. I would like to share my method for practicing soldering. I take apart old television remotes and practice soldering to the boards. These are great places to practice de-soldering as well......and by the way occasionally you find a useful item or two...leds,capacitors resisters..etc..

Hey all just want to say this community is much nicer than others out there on other social media sites. You guys are always nice and courteous. Waiting for the last of my parts to come in and you guys have definitely been a source of happy for new modders. So all I think I need left is my okr board to arrive and then my question is do I absolutely need capacitors or can I skip them being my soldering is pretty bad. What do you guys think about the automotive stuff that is like cold soldering? Just nervous about messing up a nice board? Hints suggestions any help is awesomely appreciated.

Welcome to the forum.

Yes there are bunch of nice mannered folks here.

I think soldering is the way to go. As per datasheet, caps are NOT mandatory but may help in some cases.

Hey MAMU is there a diagram of your latest working okr-t10 build with all parts, with numbers, needed to make it from scratch with all the features you would incorporate into yours? Like reverse pol prot, low volt cutoff, screen with 3 way switch to read atty and battery? Or does anyone have something like that with a detailed wiring diagram and all parts needed with part numbers, or at least enough info for someone who doesnt really know the subtle differences between parts and brands and stuff? Thanks you all!!

Hey MAMU is there a diagram of your latest working okr-t10 build with all parts, with numbers, needed to make it from scratch with all the features you would incorporate into yours? Like reverse pol prot, low volt cutoff, screen with 3 way switch to read atty and battery? Or does anyone have something like that with a detailed wiring diagram and all parts needed with part numbers, or at least enough info for someone who doesnt really know the subtle differences between parts and brands and stuff? Thanks you all!!

Did ya read page 6? It has everything posted you just asked, like three times its posted on page 6..

What do you guys think about the automotive stuff that is like cold soldering? Just nervous about messing up a nice board? Hints suggestions any help is awesomely appreciated.

Cold soldering involves a soldering tool that runs an electric current through the solder joint to heat the connection. It's only cold in that the tool itself does not generate heat. It still heats the connection and melts the solder like a regular soldering iron. There's a couple problems with using one of these soldering tools for electronics. For one, the tools generally don't have tips fine enough for small joints so you're limited in how small you can go with one. Also, the tool applies a voltage to the joint so it's possible to inadvertently apply voltage to parts of the circuit where voltage should not be applied.

I've not heard of anyone having a lot of success using a cold soldering tool for circuit board work and it's probably not something I would attempt.

Along those lines are glue type solders people have mentioned as an option to standard hand soldering. It's possible to make connections this way successfully for certain types (where higher connection resistance is not a problem), but again not something I would bother with.

The thing about normal soldering with an iron is that it's mostly in the tools and supplies. If you use a temperature adjusted soldering station set to the correct temperature with the right tip and the right solder it's actually hard to solder badly. You should view a few tutorials on soldering, get the right tools and equipment, then practice on some junk parts first.

Thank you for the info guys and gals. If anyone is here from the Las Vegas area, is there a better store than radio shack to pick up caps and resistors? A brick and mortar style place. And it would be great to know if anyone else lives out here. Talk to you all later

The radio shack by me has nothing but cell phones and beats headphones. I have to do it all online. It's been rough I've been sent the wrong stuff a lot. The 220 ohm resistors I ordered, yep they were 10k ohm. Wish there was a electronics superstore chain.

Did ya read page 6? It has everything posted you just asked, like three times its posted on page 6..

Where is there a diagram of Mamu's build with all those features, and all parts needed with part numbers? The only part numbers I saw was someones screenshot of an order but the next post was pointing out a bunch of errors on it. Link me that diagram you see on page 6 because I couldnt find it, thanks!!

Where is there a diagram of Mamu's build with all those features, and all parts needed with part numbers? The only part numbers I saw was someones screenshot of an order but the next post was pointing out a bunch of errors on it. Link me that diagram you see on page 6 because I couldnt find it, thanks!!

Was mistaken on the parts yeah those are not the parts you want. you can read I obviously skimmed it or cannot lol woot another OKR build incoming--I'll help ya with parts list if ya want..

The 1K ohm pull-down resister is causing a major concern with the current drain. The 5.6v zener is kicking in to cut off the OKR from firing at 6v under load, but the batts if left in the mod after the cutoff continue to drain and with the 1K ohm resister drain at a faster rate. The series batts drained down to 5v.

I've re-breadboarded the setup and replaced the 1K ohm resister with a 4.7K ohm resister and so far good to go. With my previous setup I couldn't do higher than 2K without getting auto-firing with the zener inline. Now I'm thinking it was the funky breadboard I was using because now with the new breadboard a higher resistance is doing fine.

yeah I had linked to that post then saw you had it linked already lolits so tiny on my screen i did not see it.

yeah thats a cool switch diagram, those switches are usually huge, I haven't looked for one yet but they are huge the ones I know about.. gotta do some good planning for room in the enclosure.. They make miniature toggles that are smaller than the slide switches 3pdt per amps. meh Break may have found a tiny one but he can stuff a 10lb watermelon in a soup can so he may not have lol.. I guess if I look at it if using a balance plug its about the same ~sizing.. If not using lipo's swapping in and out batts is better bests for me..

If you're determined to use a USB charger, that's the way to do it, but you're also splitting the rate between two cells so you're going to get longer charge times. Depends though, I use a 1A rate USB charger for parallel 18650s and it takes about 6 hours. When I get at least a day of run time out of a charge, 6 hours is not a big deal.

In any case, I would go with a balance charger for series cells rather than a USB charger with a series/parallel battery switch. That way you can charge and vape at the same time if you want. The connectors are pretty small, not really any bigger than a USB plug so that's not an issue.

If you're using removable cells then there's not a whole lot of reason to use a USB charging port. If you're using non-removable cells, they may likely be the 2S LiPos and those come already wired up with the balance charging plug. You just mount the plug in the mod so it's accessible then use the appropriate cable. Hobby King has balance chargers and cables with great prices.

If anyone is here from the Las Vegas area, is there a better store than radio shack to pick up caps and resistors? A brick and mortar style place.

As far as finding electronics components brick & mortar, good luck with that. Online retail has put a lot of specialty brick & mortar shops out of business, electronics shops included. There was one in my town, but not anymore. Vegas being a bigger town than Reno may still have a few or they may not. Getting your parts online is pretty much the only option anymore.

Granted you have the lead time on shipping, but you do get used to the idea of not being able to run out and get something right away when you need it, just have to plan better. In any case, things are a lot cheaper online and you don't waste time or expensive gas driving around looking for parts.

My favorite online supplier is Mouser, but they don't have the best prices. They do have the best parametric search for parts and that's worth a lot to me. A lot of times you can request samples for free directly from the maker and you can't beat that. I have a whole drawer full of parts I got for free that way.

Can I use two 18650 single battery holders and bridge them together. Or am I better off pulling the clips out from an old remote control? Having issues waiting for my keystone and I want to get started with this! Any ideas or help would be awesome. Thank you guys so much for the inspiration

Can I use two 18650 single battery holders and bridge them together. Or am I better off pulling the clips out from an old remote control? Having issues waiting for my keystone and I want to get started with this! Any ideas or help would be awesome. Thank you guys so much for the inspiration

Depending you power requirements, your battery holder can be a bottleneck in power delivery. You really need to use the best you can find. The Keystone sleds have been found to do pretty well and you should not deviate from a quality battery holder.

Clips from a remote control are not designed for high currents and may introduce a lot of resistance. Do not use a battery holder with springs. Those have high resistance. They're fine for electronics that draw very low currents, but you're in a different league with an e-cig that uses a relatively high amount of power and draws a good amount of current from the battery.

If you really want to avoid using a sled, you can probably find good clips that will perform well, should be able to find them at an online electronics shop, but then again you have the wait for shipping. Don't have any recommendations there.

What would happen if I used solid copper wires for the battery springs, like in a dual mech box? Something along the lines of 18 gauge? Would that cause an issue? Then I can bridge the 2 springs? What so you guys think?

Copper is a problem for contacts in that it quickly builds up a layer of electrically resistant tarnish, though copper itself is the best conductor of all the elements second only to silver. To use copper in contacts, it has to be plated with a hard tarnish resistant metal. Typically nickel or tin-nickel is used since those have fairly good conductivity, but if you want the best sparing no expense, use rhodium. That metal has similar tarnish resistance as platinum and very good conductivity, not a whole lot less than copper. Also it's a hard metal so it holds up well to abrasion. The down side is it's a precious metal and it's expensive, similar to gold.

You can't really use copper as a spring like material since it's a soft metal and there's no way to temper it. You have to use spring steel, but it's a crappy conductor. To make a spring perform well electrically, it needs a thick plate. Though even then, a spring is basically a long wire so it's going to have more resistance than a piece of sheetmetal. There's really option other than a sheetmetal contact. Again those are spring steel and require a thick plating to work well.

For those who are following my wiring guide, I updated my wiring guide to include a master kill switch.

We've found that the zener diode does not block idle current drain, so you HAVE to remove the batts from the mod at cutoff voltage, or have a master kill switch, else the batts will continue to drain past an unsafe voltage.

With idle current drain wiping out our batts if left in the mod past the cutoff voltage, it would be a good idea to include a master kill switch, especially those mods with internal lipo batts in which you can't easily remove the batts. A master kill switch also, of course, protects the converter from accidentally firing the atty.

The important consideration for a master kill switch with these converters that have idle current at the on/off control is to have a disconnect between Vin and voltage source. I've seen a few guides/schematics that have a simple SPST on/off slide switch disconnecting Vin from on/off control when the switch is positioned off and labeling that as a lockout switch - this is misleading modders into thinking that it is a true kill switch and they're safe from idle current drain when they're not. It prevents the converter from firing, but does not stop idle current drain. It also does not stop the voltage reader from displaying input volts.

With a DPST switch wired as shown in the guide, Vin is disconnected from voltage source and also on/off control when the switch is in the off position. You can safely leave the batts in your mod for however long you like and not have to worry about current drain - as long as you remember to turn the switch off - that I can't help you with.

Just thought id step in and say hello, if this thread is still going ill be on it quite a bit, just got mess load of electronics to build some boxes for some local stores, i did a carbon fiber enclosure with a dual 18350 setup and for some reason people went bananas over the enclosure being made from carbon fiber. And mamu thank you so much for providing these amazing schematics. im gong to go ahead and have to order the rest of the electronics needed to make a box with your schematics, ill probably end up putting the first one with a screen in a hammond aluminum enclosure and then if i think it will sell i will make a new mold to make a little bit bigger carbon enclosure

Just thought id step in and say hello, if this thread is still going ill be on it quite a bit, just got mess load of electronics to build some boxes for some local stores, i did a carbon fiber enclosure with a dual 18350 setup and for some reason people went bananas over the enclosure being made from carbon fiber. And mamu thank you so much for providing these amazing schematics. im gong to go ahead and have to order the rest of the electronics needed to make a box with your schematics, ill probably end up putting the first one with a screen in a hammond aluminum enclosure and then if i think it will sell i will make a new mold to make a little bit bigger carbon enclosure

Welcome to the forum CM. Please don't post about selling mods. This is a DIY forum for personal mods.

Good news is that, like the fire switch, with the master kill switch tied to on/off control you don't need a rated DPST on/off slide switch. Without having to have a rated slide switch you should find these readily available and in smaller sizes.

I'm not understanding how the switch doesn't need to be rated for the vin max current. I get that the slide switch isn't being switched under full current load, only 1ma to the remote pin. But when switched on and then fired the vin current would be going through the switch. Just hoping you could provide some clarity, thanks.

Welcome to the forum CM. Please don't post about selling mods. This is a DIY forum for personal mods.

I am very sorry about mentioning anything about selling my enclosures, i should have thought more about my first post on a new forum, i am usually very respectful of rules and do not use foul language but i was excited to get on here and see whats going on in the world of power regulated mods. Breaktru is there any way to directly message you?

I'm not understanding how the switch doesn't need to be rated for the vin max current. I get that the slide switch isn't being switched under full current load, only 1ma to the remote pin. But when switched on and then fired the vin current would be going through the switch. Just hoping you could provide some clarity, thanks.

oh wait lol... I think I got what I did wrong. I was only looking at one part of the switch - the Vin-on/off control side.

Right - there is current going across the switch from batt + to Vin.

So, it does need a rated slide switch unless there's a different way to wire this.

oh wait lol... I think I got what I did wrong. I was only looking at one part of the switch - the Vin-on/off control side.

Right - there is current going across the switch from batt + to Vin.

So, it does need a rated slide switch unless there's a different way to wire this.

Yes mamu, you want to isolate the battery with the on/off switch so a rated switch is necessary. A SPST can be used.Also, I suggest putting the low battery indicator on the switched side of the on/off switch.